Telly 8th July 2024 by Bronwyn O'Neill

All The Official Paul Mescal Gladiator Pics

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Paul Mescal plays Lucius in Gladiator II Pic: Paramount Pictures

We finally have our first look at Paul Mescal as Lucius in Gladiator 2.

The second film is due to hit cinemas this November.

The Irish actor plays the role of Lucius Verus, the now grown-up son of Lucilla and nephew of Commodus, who Connie Nielsen and Joaquin Phoenix played in the first film.

Connie will be reprising her role in the sequel and is among the few original cast members to appear.

Paul Mescal plays Lucius Pic: Paramount Pictures

The film also stars Pedro Pascal, Fred Hechinger, Denzel Washington, Matt Lucas and Joseph Quinn.

According to Vanity Fair, decades have passed since the first film and Lucius has grown up far away from Rome, on the northern coast of Africa, to a region called Numidia that was (at that point) just outside the reach of the Roman Empire.

At the start of the film, Paul’s character has a wife and child. But fans of the original will know that family members don’t fare well in these movies.

Speaking to the publication, Paul discusses getting the role admitting that his background on the sports pitch has really helped him. Oh and of course, his “Roman nose” didn’t hurt either.

“My nose just is kind of Roman,” he admitted.

“So it’s useful in this context. The nose that I absolutely hated when I was in secondary school—and used to get ribbed for—became very, very useful when Ridley needed somebody to be in Gladiator II.”

Paul Mescal plays Lucius and Pedro Pascal plays Marcus Acacius Pic: Paramount Pictures

Paul confessed that being cast in the highly coveted role happened fairly lively.

He explained that had a conversation with the director Ridley Scott for “about 20 to 30 minutes”.

“I wanted to get a flavour from him about what the story was going to be about, so we spent about 15 minutes talking about that, and then we spent another 10 minutes talking about the sport that I played growing up—Gaelic football. Maybe that was something that helped with it, in that I’m used to being physical in my body.”

Clearly Paul made an impression on Ridley as he didn’t even need to do a camera test before he was offered the role.

“My memory of it is that probably two or three weeks later, the offer came in,” Paul admitted.

Gladiator 2 hits cinemas on November 22nd